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Literature, PoetryJune 4, 2015

MacArthur’s stick

Despair by Meezan Rehman. Image Courtesy: ArtChowk Gallery

Despair by Meezan Rehman. Image Courtesy: ArtChowk Gallery

MacArthur’s stick

was shaped to match
a human-spine, near-exact, though blunted
after each attack, each polite request
denied, after which the spreading grin,
the full pull-back-and-fly.
Hedley’s brother’s legs were black
the whole of spring, his mother’s eyes
sloped from her face like dinner plates
on a tilting ship. MacArthur blessed
the head of each child he passed,
with a lazy nip, with a gruesome, dark
abominable ease, with a putrid charm.
That Sunday, Mac bought port-and-lemons,
took Hedley’s mother’s arm.
He pressed the dimple on her chin,
and, like the angel in the womb, became
the whole cause of her discontent,
and of its forgetting.
-Phoebe Walker

Phoebe Walker is a Northumbrian poet now living and working in London. She has twice been a Foyle Young Poet, has attended the Tower Poetry School, been shortlisted for the Bridport Poetry Prize and is a recipient of a Northern Writers’ Award for her poetry. She works as Poetry Editor at Cadaverine magazine and Reviews Editor at Lunar Poetry.

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One last love letter...

April 24, 2021

It has taken us some time and patience to come to this decision. TMS would not have seen the success that it did without our readers and the tireless team that ran the magazine for the better part of eight years.

But… all good things must come to an end, especially when we look at the ever-expanding art and literary landscape in Pakistan, the country of the magazine’s birth.

We are amazed and proud of what the next generation of creators are working with, the themes they are featuring, and their inclusivity in the diversity of voices they are publishing. When TMS began, this was the world we envisioned…

Though the magazine has closed and our submissions shuttered, this website will remain open for the foreseeable future as an archive of the great work we published and the astounding collection of diverse voices we were privileged to feature.

If, however, someone is interested in picking up the baton, please email Maryam Piracha, the editor, at maryamp@themissingslate.com.

Farewell, fam! It’s been quite a ride.

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